Hunting Down The Hawks

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – The Master’s College women’s basketball team lifted its 2013-14 record to 21-6 and 9-3 in GSAC play with a 65-55 victory over San Diego Christian Saturday night at Bross Court.

The seventh-ranked Lady Mustangs have now won their last four contests against the Hawks.

“San Diego Christian played really hard and I’m proud of our resolve and how we held our composure,” commented Lady Mustang head coach Dan Waldeck. “We didn’t play real well in the paint, but our posts hung in there and played well. We’re starting to play really good basketball.”

The Lady Mustangs faced an early scare when the Hawks mustered a 21-13 lead with 9:18 left in the first half. But the Lady Mustangs responded when Jacquelyn Marshall (San Clemente, CA), Zoe Scott (Spokane, WA), Olivia Thompson (Huntington Beach, CA), and Bianca Cubello (Riverside, CA), championed an 11-3 run and tied the score at 24-24 with 4:30 remaining on the clock.

With 5 minutes left in the half, a collective effort by Kelly Burns (Yorba Linda, CA), Marshall, Scott, and Thompson put up 9 more points, giving the Lady Mustangs a 33-26 advantage at the break.

At halftime, Scott and Marshall led TMC by each posting 8 points while Burns tallied 6 more. Marshall yanked down 5 boards while Whitney Best (Snohomish, WA), posted 2 assists and 2 steals.

59 seconds after the break, Scott put the Lady Mustangs up by 10 with a three-pointer. Notably, Scott’s three-pointer sparked a 9-2 run, bringing the score to 45-28 and giving TMC a game-high 17 point lead.

Over the next nine minutes, the Lady Mustangs maintained a hearty lead spanning from 10-17 points until the Hawks cut TMC’s advantage to nine points after Chadonnay Shula brought the score to 60-51 off a three-pointer with 3:14 left to play.

But the trio of Marshall, Best, and freshman standout Megan Lindsley (Vancouver, WA), reeled off 5 more points in the waning moments, bringing the final score to 65-55.

Statistically, Marshall nabbed a double-double by scoring a team-high 14 points coupled with bringing down 11 rebounds. Scott and Best also highlighted TMC’s scoring efforts by posting 13 and 11 points, respectively. Also, Best posted a team-high 4 assists and 2 steals.

As a team, the Lady Mustangs went 20-54 (37%) from the field, shot 5-12 (41%) behind the arc, and went 20-29 (60%) from the charity stripe.

Now, the Lady Mustangs look to close out their conference schedule against two NAIA Top-25 teams: No. 1 Vanguard and No. 14 Hope International.

“Vanguard and Hope are great teams who are both playing very well this late in season,” assessed Waldeck. “However, we’re starting to get back to full strength which should propel us to where we want to be as a team. The ability to play our game and not get overwhelmed by runs and deficits will be crucial. Both teams have great players and can cause some great mismatches. I hope we can go into both games with motivation to finish our conference schedule strong.”

On Tuesday, the Lady Mustangs will travel to Costa Mesa to face the NAIA’s top ranked team – Vanguard University (23-0, 9-0 GSAC).

“You have to guard them well and score with them,” commented Waldeck on Vanguard. “They are so potent offensively. We’re going to need to be at our best against them.”